Tony Iommi says Brian May plays on “Death Wake” and declined to appear on more of From The Dark.
Tony Iommi has described Brian May as his best friend of nearly six decades, and revealed that the Queen guitarist turned down an invitation to play on more of From The Dark.
Speaking to Loudwire, Iommi, 78, said he has known May, 79, for “56, 58” years, and that the two of them are the last of a small circle he kept up with.
May appears on “Death Wake“, the sixth track. The arrangement was less formal than that suggests.
“He came to my house, and we always have a little fiddle about,” Iommi said. “He brings a guitar or I’ve got one here and he’ll use that. I said, ‘Oh, bring your guitar when you come,’ he brought his guitar and I said, ‘You’re going to be playing on this track here.’ He’s great.”
Iommi wanted more from him and did not get it.
“I said to him, ‘Play on some other tracks,’ but he went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album.’ That’s the relationship we’ve had with each other for all these years. We’ve played a lot together. He is a great friend.”
Asked about staying in contact with his contemporaries, Iommi named only two.
He said: “We’ve known each other for 56, 58 years. He’s my best friend. And of course, Eddie Van Halen was. We always stayed in touch a lot. They were the only two I really did stay in touch with
Van Halen died in October 2020 at 65.
Iommi also returned to Black Sabbath‘s last concert, “Back To The Beginning“, at Villa Park in Birmingham on 5 July 2025. He called it a great honour, and said the hardest part was where Ozzy Osbourne had to sit.
“For me, it was difficult because seeing Ozzy sitting in a throne is not the way I see him,” Iommi recalled. “Always [when] we’ve been onstage, he’s been running around and he’d run up to Geezer and pull a face jokingly and come over to me and pull a face or the drummer or whatever.”
He continued: “We always had a little laugh onstage and enjoy when he’d run about. But at ‘Back To The Beginning‘, of course, he’s in a throne and I couldn’t see him, which felt very unusual.”
Osbourne performed his solo set and the Sabbath reunion seated on a black throne, a decision forced by Parkinson’s disease and a series of spinal operations. It was the first time all four original members had shared a stage since 2005. He died 17 days later, on 22 July 2025, aged 76.
From The Dark arrives on 23 October through BMG and is Iommi‘s first solo record in 21 years. Jorn Lande sings on every track, with Becky Baldwin of Mercyful Fate on bass and Karl Brazil on drums. Iommi co-produced with Mike Exeter.
He unveiled it at a Birmingham launch on 29 July, screening the “World Alone” video and taking part in a question-and-answer session with the comedian Frank Skinner.
“It’s an album we’ve really enjoyed making. We’re not trying to prove anything – it’s a great album, it rocks!” Iommi said when the album was announced.
Lande has worked with Iommi before. He sang at the 2010 High Voltage festival at Victoria Park in London, at a tribute to Ronnie James Dio alongside surviving Heaven & Hell members Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice, with Glenn Hughes also taking part.
The standard album runs to eight songs, with the deluxe CD adding two more:
- “Over The Violent Sun”
- “Black Times”
- “World Alone”
- “Beyond The Dead”
- “Stormwatcher”
- “Death Wake”
- “Return Of The Arbalist”
- “Legacy”
- “Scent Of Dark” (deluxe bonus track)
- “Deified” (extended version, deluxe bonus track)
The album comes in several vinyl and CD editions. The double LP is cut at 45rpm across two discs and pressed in four colours, each tied to a different retailer, in a gatefold sleeve of black card with a die cut of Iommi‘s signature cross that reveals the full artwork as the inner sleeve is pulled out. An Amazon-exclusive CD uses the same die-cut design, and there is a 32-page media book edition carrying both bonus tracks.
Iommi founded Black Sabbath with Osbourne, Butler and Bill Ward, and wrote the bulk of the band’s material. He lost the tips of two fingers in a factory accident as a teenager, and the adaptations he made to keep playing shaped the tone that defined the band.
He has multiple Grammy Awards, a place in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, a doctorate from Coventry University, a Lord Mayor’s Award and the Freedom of the City of Birmingham. In June he was appointed MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.
He has stayed busy without a solo record, playing on Osbourne‘s Patient Number 9, working with Birmingham Royal Ballet on Black Sabbath: The Ballet, and appearing on Robbie Williams‘ 2025 single “Rocket“.
